John Tortora, the Sharks’ chief operating officer, reiterated in a press release Monday that the team and the City of San Jose were close to finalizing a new extension to their management agreement for SAP Center, which expires at the end of the 2017-18 season.

How long the potential agreement would be for is not presently known.

Sharks owner Hasso Plattner, in a message to fans published on the team’s website on Thursday, wrote, “We are trying to finalize with the City of San Jose a new arena deal keeping the Sharks at home. We are trying but have not been successful to change the unfavorable TV deal the Sharks’ management signed a while ago.”

Tortora wrote Monday that SAP Center is “the only place the Sharks have ever wanted to call home.”

“The clear and consistent directive from Hasso has been to keep the Sharks at SAP Center for the long-term,” Tortora wrote. “Hasso is committed to San Jose and its vibrant arena, so much so that it bears the name of the company he co-founded. We are very confident that we will finalize this process in a positive manner with the City shortly.”

Sharks officials have been meeting with city officials for the last few months, and have also, for some time, wanted the team’s payments for use of the building earmarked for improvements rather than going into the city’s general fund.

After playing at the Cow Palace for two seasons, the Sharks have been at SAP Center since the building opened in 1993. Still, it is one of the oldest rinks in the NHL.

The New York Islanders will move from Nassau Coliseum (opened in 1972) to Barclays Center in Brooklyn for next season, the Edmonton Oilers will be leaving Rexall Place (opened in 1974) after next season, and work has started on a new arena in Detroit, as the Red Wings will at some point leave Joe Louis Arena (opened in 1979).

According to a Sharks spokesman, since the building opened, the capital repairs, equipment replacements and enhancements made in various areas have primarily been paid for by a capital reserve fund contributed to by the Sharks and the City of San Jose, which owns the building.

At the moment, the Sharks say there is no set timetable for future capital repair, replacement or modernization projects. But there are projects that will need attention as the building ages. For instance, half of the facility’s roof has been replaced, but the other half is still original and will need to be upgraded in the near future. The cost for this alone will likely exceed $3 million, according to the Sharks.

Jeremy Roenick believes the Sharks need a coach with a more sandpaper-like style to help bring the best out of the players on the roster, both young and not-so-young.

“They need someone with a firm hand, someone who is not afraid to challenge the players verbally,” Roenick told this newspaper on Thursday. “I thought Todd (McLellan) was a great player’s coach. If there was one thing that I wish he did more was be a little bit more verbal and vocal on a fiercer side.”

You can read more of Roenick’s thoughts, and the thoughts of other hockey analysts, in a story David Pollak and I wrote that you can find here.

Roenick didn’t stop there, as he feels the Sharks didn’t do a good enough job of mentally preparing themselves to play against the NHL’s cellar-dwellers, need a major upgrade on defense and challenged the younger players to make big improvements in the offseason.

“In the offseason, players like (Matt) Nieto, players like (Tommy) Wingels, players like (Tomas) Hertl. These guys have to make sure that they prepare to do a better job next season of being more consistent,” Roenick said. “Because you can’t continue to rely on Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture every single night. You can’t continue to go four or five game stints without getting any production from your third and fourth line and expect to win.”

The Sharks have reportedly obtained permission from the Toronto Maple Leafs to talk to Randy Carlyle about their open head coaching position.

The news was first reported by Renaud Lavoie of TVA in Montreal and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Contacted Friday, Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said he had no comment on the report or on the team’s coaching search.

Carlyle, 59, was dismissed as Toronto’s head coach in January after a mediocre 21-16-3 start to the season. But the Leafs’ epic tailspin after that change led many to believe that he was hardly the reason for Toronto’s inconsistencies. Toronto finished 30-44-8, the fourth-worst record in the NHL. Carlyle, who went 91-78-19 in 188 games as the Maple Leafs coach, had signed a two-year contract extension with Toronto last summer.

After the Sharks officially parted ways with Todd McLellan on Monday, Wilson said he was looking for a coach that believes in a puck possession game. Carlyle believes in hard, heavy hockey, and has not necessarily always been a proponent of advanced statistics, although that began to change somewhat in his final season in Toronto.

Carlyle coached the Anaheim Ducks from 2005-2011 and won the Stanley Cup in 2007. In 2009 as a No. 8 seed, Anaheim upset the top-seeded Sharks in in the first round.

Over the weekend, Carlyle told the Winnipeg Free Press that he was ready for a return to coaching.

“I’m a coach. I want to coach. That’s what I do. Every day at four in the afternoon I have to begin fighting my wife for the remote when the games from the East come on the TV,” Carlyle said. “I want to be in hockey. It’s what I do. In a lot of ways, it’s who I am.”

SAN JOSE –Here is the complete text of Sharks owner Hasso Plattner’s “message to our valued season-ticket holders” that was sent by email Thursday afternoon.

“For fans everywhere in the world it is difficult to see their favorite team missing the season goals. The Sharks had a good run for many years and made it three times to the conference finals, but that’s not enough when the competition from Southern California won the cup three times in the same time frame.

“We got fortunate when we acquired Joe Thornton in a trade and had with Todd McLellan an excellent head coach. What was the missing piece? Was it drafting, trading, rental players, we tried them all. We clearly had a window of opportunity, but the NHL has a very balanced constitution which doesn’t allow for money to become the dominant factor. You can’t buy a team, you have to build it which is very fair. And after you traded picks for ready-to-play veterans, you sooner or later have to start rebuilding the team. We had hoped that we can do both, stay competitive and rebuild at the same time. It was close but the other teams in our conference were better, at least throughout the whole season and deservedly finished ahead of us. Remember where we were end of January in the standings? Now the question is should we have traded for reinforcements and block the young hopefuls from playing or should we have started the rebuilding process even a year or two earlier?

“The answer is that it doesn’t matter anymore, we are where we are. Seven young players made the team, another few hopefuls with great success stories in the juniors can be watched playing for the Barracuda next season. Once we committed ourselves to the rebuild we had to steer straight, even if there was some disappointment.

“The management, John and Doug, did a good job. We are trying to finalize with the City of San Jose a new arena deal keeping the Sharks at home. We are trying but have not been successful to change the unfavorable TV deal the Sharks management signed a while ago. On the other hand, we got the organization streamlined and focused on hockey. The coaching staff had been outstanding, the seven continuous years with Head Coach McLellan is a testimony of that. The rebuild is in full progress, the team is now amongst the youngest in the league and has a great future.

“The fans can be reassured that the ownership and the management are committed to do everything possible in order to achieve sustainable success. I want to thank them and the loyal season ticket holders and corporate partners for their support. Are we perfect? No, not all moves will play out as thought and the competition will do everything to keep us at bay. But we have a tremendous core, the older players are still fully committed, and some of the sophomores will enter their third year. With some luck in the draft this summer and a new team behind the bench we will fully attack again and show some good sport. The goal will always be to reach the playoffs and win 16 games there in one season.”

Join me for a chat on the Sharks this Thursday at 1 p.m.(Pacific time) We’ll do our best to answer your questions on the team, plus get your feedback on what changes you’d still like to see going forward.

My timing may have been a few days off, but as I speculated here last week, Todd McLellan and the Sharks have parted ways by “mutual agreement.”

The case can be made that this was a somewhat gussied up “mutual agreement” in the sense that change definitely had to come somewhere in the hierarchy and it’s rare that a GM goes before a coach (see Pittsburgh Penguins a year ago for the exception that proves the rule). Maybe McLellan just woke up one morning and realized somebody had to take the fall and he was the patsy.

But as such things go, this was closer to mutual than the stunt the 49ers tried to pull off in December before the pretense unraveled. Under these circumstances, McLellan did reach the point where he wanted out — and the Sharks made no effort to stop him.

A ton of coverage on the Merc’s Shark page online. Head here and you’ll find links to multiple stories, a column by @mercpurdy and a list of two showing McLellan’s possible destinations and successors.

But some things do get overlooked in the coverage on a day like this, or at least slighted. So worth mentioning here:

**The NHL set up a new protocol that compensates teams if their coaches go elsewhere before their contract ends. Doug Wilson said this separation complies with the new system and San Jose will be entitled to a third-round draft pick in one of the next three years if another team does sign McLellan, a given. Likewise, if Wilson hires another NHL team’s coach for the opening in San Jose, the Sharks give up a similar pick.

**McLellan will get paid until he lands a new job. Likewise, assistants Jim Johnson and Jay Woodcroft as well as video coordinator Brett Heimlich are also on the payroll for the duration of their contracts. Benefits, too.

**At no point did McLellan have any contract extension talks with the Sharks. Not a shock.

**McLellan leaves Friday for the Czech Republic and a stint (or is it an audition?) with Team Canada. His thoughts?

“I look forward to meeting new players, coaches and staff. I think it’s exciting, a little bit refreshing and invigorating to be doing that now. Where I go from here, I guess I somewhat control but there are other people out there who have to make decisions. I’m comfortable with my career as a coach so far. I don’t have any regrets here in San Jose and I feel good moving forward.”

**On his relationship with Joe Thornton, McLellan said:

“To my last breath I can tell you I have a ton of respect for Joe Thornton. He’s a tremendous player, first of all. He care immensely about the organization and his teammates. And he has a strong passion for winning. And that may be the big misnoner out there. He’s a relaxed guy, and that type of stuff, but my respect level for him is very high.

“There will be a day where he’ll be put in the Hall of Fame, and hopefully when he goes in there with all the awards he can go in there by finishing his career by winning a championship. I know that’s what his passion is all about.”

**A writer from Edmonton asked McLellan if he wold welcome the chance to coach Connor McDavid.

The Philadelphia Flyers fired Craig Berube as their coach on Friday, and now have their eye Detroit’s Mike Babcock, Todd McLellan or Boston’s Claude Julien to become their next coach — should any of the three become available — according to CSN Philly. Darren Dreger of TSN/NBCSN also tweeted last week that if the Flyers were to dismiss Berube, their targets were Babcock and McLellan.

McLellan and Sharks general manager Doug Wilson both said on Wednesday that more time is needed before a decision is made on the coach’s future in San Jose, probably by the end of next week before McLellan joins Team Canada on their way to the World Championships in Prague.

After the final game of the regular season Saturday, McLellan said he knew his performance would be evaluated by the organization, but he, too, had a decision to make with one year left on his contract. McLellan said he wanted to discuss the matter with his entire family Tuesday after his son returned home from his second season in the United States Hockey League.

McLellan said the discussion he wanted to have with his family hasn’t taken place yet, as family conversations were limited to more mundane topics such as a haircut or a golf match.

“The answers you guys are looking for today, I’m not going to be able to give them to you,” the coach said. “I need a little more time. I’m sure the organization needs a little more time.”

Berube was the sixth head coach in Philadelphia since the summer of 2000, a list that includes Stanley Cup winners Ken Hitchcock and Peter Laviolette. Both Hitchcock and Laviolette lasted less than five years with the Flyers.

The NHL draft lottery will take place Saturday at 5 p.m. (Pacific) on NBC, just before the Penguins and Rangers start Game 2 of their playoff series at Madison Square Garden.

To me, that’s a wasted opportunity. Why not make it a one hour or 90 minute special all by itself. Sell the game. Promote these players. Then as you get closer to the draft, have Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel make the talk show rounds (Letterman, Fallon or Kimmel, hell, even Ellen or the View).

Just my take. Because quite frankly, fans of non-playoff teams have been looking forward to this moment for some time.

Admit it. Every time the Sharks lost in late March or early April, or every time a team like Calgary, Winnipeg or Los Angeles won, it was easy to check not only San Jose’s chances of making the postseason, but also how much of a chance it had of winning the draft lottery.

The first number kept decreasing. The other creeped up ever so slightly, until the Sharks finished the season 22nd in the overall standings and therefore had a 5 percent chance of winning the lottery, and having the opportunity to select a generational player like McDavid.

Sharks GM Doug Wilson was coy on Wednesday when asked about the lottery, basically saying only that “everyone thinks they” have a chance. He added that he would not even reveal what members of the front office will be wearing Saturday (although I’m not sure what context to place that in).

More likely, the Sharks will be drafting ninth or 10th, probably putting them in a position to draft a centerman like Mitchell Maner of the London Knights, or a defenseman like Zach Werenski of Michigan or Jacob Larsson of Frolunda Jr. in Sweden. Just a guess on my part, knowing how highly the Sharks value centers and puck-moving defensemen.

SAN JOSE — The Sharks did all they could to make their earliest locker clean-out in a decade no different than any of the last 10 seasons when they did make the playoffs.

No major announcements (OK, I admit I was wrong to think that closure had been reached on Todd McLellan’s future here — though I’m still holding onto the “mutual agreement” theory), no rushes to judgment. A rehashing of where things went wrong and an explanation of the personnel evaluation process at this point.

Doug Wilson talked again about the past season being a transition year and how he had no intention of abandoning the plan despite the playoff whiff.

“We’re very disappointed sitting here that we’re not preparing for a playoff series tonight. I’ll be honest about that,” he said. “I take full responsibility for the commitment to the transition program we went through this year. That was my plan, that was my decision. When you go through that type of transition plan there’s often some pain and the pain is sitting here, not going to playoffs.”

He elaborated later:

“It’s very transparent that we were probably going to take a step back. We didn’t want the step back to be missing the playoffs, but we did. We had a lot of good players in place. We had a lot of young players in their second year that maybe they didn’t progress naturally as well. But there’s a lot of good things, key players in key positions.”

He rejected the idea that the turmoil of last summer caused this team’s problems and pointed to the fact that 50 games into the season, San Jose was second in the Pacific and on pace to reach 100 points. The problem was February, he said, and he still has no explanation for what went wrong at that point.

The man who ultimately decides if there’s a price Wilson must pay for “full responsibility” is owner Hasso Plattner. And, yes, the first evaluation that gets everything in motion is Plattner’s of Wilson.

“We talk a lot,” Wilson said. “Hasso’s very involved and up to speed on anything. We went through the plan last summer, we went through the season with it. Obviously our performance in February didn’t really bring any reason to adjust from what our plan was.”

Wilson also addressed the general perception of Plattner as a less than involved owner because he keeps a low public profile.

McLellan said Wednesday that he needs a little more time to decide what he wants to do going forward. Before McLellan spoke to the media, though, Joe Thornton, when asked if if a coaching change was needed, said, “I have no idea. Todd has to talk to his family. Maybe he should talk to this family as well in here. We’ll see what happens.”

Logan Couture was direct in his assessment, saying the Sharks do not need to change coaches, but the team’s culture could use an adjustment.

“I’ve never been the type of person to say a coach needs to change. I think that’s a cop out most of the time when you blame a coaching staff or a coach, instead of going out on the ice to play the game,” Couture said.